Summary: We uphold Mr X’s complaint, as the Council delayed considering a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to complete its stage two without further delay and make a payment for the delay so far.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will call Mr X, complained in January 2021 to the Council’s about its children services actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints procedure

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, Getting the Best from Complaints, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
10. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The Council must hold the panel within 30 days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

What happened

11. Mr X complained in January 2021 about the children services’ actions. This included the care of a looked after child, involving therapy and contact. The Council replied at stage one of its corporate complaints’ procedure. Mr X questioned whether it was the right complaints’ procedure. Following our intervention, the Council agreed in May 2021 to reply to the complaint within the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. Stage Two should have been completed by mid August. It still has not.
12. An investigation is likely to conclude the Council’s delay here is failure to comply with the statutory complaints’ procedure and is fault which has caused Mr X some time and trouble.

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Agreed Action

13. The Council has agreed within one month of the date of my final decision to:
• Complete a stage two investigation and write to Mr X to inform him of the outcome, ensuring it provides him with appropriate information about his rights under the process.
• Pay him £140 to reflect the delays in the complaints’ process so far.

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Final decision

14. We uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman